Chemical Composition and Antioxidants of Senecio vulgaris (Asteraceae)

Abstract

The study included the antioxidant and chemical compounds of methanolic extract of Senecio vulgaris in Iraq. S. vulgaris has a rich history in traditional medicine for treating different health problems. The results gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) chromatogram of S. vulgaris extract showed 19 peaks, which indicates the presence of 19 compounds (phytochemical constituents). Most of the chemical components extracted from S. vulgaris include oleic acid (40.46%), n-Hexadecanoic acid (23.40%), 5,9-dimethyl-2-(1-methylethyl)-1-cyclodecanone (6.52%), octadecanoic acid (3.57%) and 1,2-benzenedicarboxylic acid, bis(2-methylpropyl) ester (3.27%). The antioxidant activity of overall methanol extract contents of S. vulgaris was determined by adding different concentrations of methanol extract to 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyle (DPPH). The inhibitory activity was evaluated by using five different concentrations of methanol extract of S. vulgaris. The results showed that the antioxidant activity in concentration 3 μL/mL was 41.23%, while the highest antioxidant activity was 98.33% in 25 μL/mL compared with vitamin C, which was 16% in 3 μL/mL and recorded 91.97% in 25 μL/mL. The total antioxidant capacity of S. vulgaris methanol extract was evaluated as vitamin C equivalents per gram. The DPPH radical scavenging potency with a minimum IC50 value in S. vulgaris was 5.64 μL/mL, while vitamin C was 3.09.